Many times in different sources I have come across the statement that COP is old and half-dead and no one uses it. I finally got around to taking a closer look at it - well, in principle, all the necessary nodes for color correction are there, and there is a VOP, and even some kind of strange Wrangle. What else do users need? What's the catch? Why so much criticism?

Users need speed, stability, reliability

COPs are great until you hit issues with any of the above and discover that it's unlikely to be fixed
It's simply old, limited architecture

Also some simple things like roto can be painful and buggy
For many other simple things you already have to make your own VOP COPs, I mean it's great it's possible, but also it's not for everyone

I wouldn't say nobody uses it, it's definitely useable for simple tasks, but you have to know its limits


Overall I don't think anyone complains about COPs as a context, but all complains I hear are specific issues that are unlikely to be fixed and hence many people hope for a full rewrite that can modernize COPs and make it more integrated with other parts of Houdini

HGaal
What else do users need? What's the catch? Why so much criticism?

I do use COPs at times and have no complaints. At the same time, I only have used it for simple reasons.

To get an idea of why someone might complain - try using/look at what it can do - Nuke;

Keeping in mind...people have the tendency, understandably, to want Everything in one software package.

The other thing to note: "COPs v3" is known to be under development. I wouldn't expect to see anything until late '24 or even '25 - but it is being worked on.

Mike_A
The other thing to note: "COPs v2" is known to be under development. I wouldn't expect to see anything until late '24 or even '25 - but it is being worked on.

I was about to say the same thing, there is even a COP2 Network page in the docs!

COP2 Network [www.sidefx.com]

I know you're joking, but for people who are less familiar to COP:

COP2 is the current COP. It's not the next version under development.

kodra
I know you're joking, but for people who are less familiar to COP:

COP2 is the current COP. It's not the next version under development.

Heheh, yeah, COP2 has been around since H17.5 I think! 😅

GCharb
Heheh, yeah, COP2 has been around since H17.5 I think! 😅

Not sure why you would think that
It's more like Houdini 4 or 5, so vast majority of Houdini users have only ever known COP2, me included

tamte

GCharb
Heheh, yeah, COP2 has been around since H17.5 I think! 😅

Not sure why you would think that
It's more like Houdini 4 or 5, so vast majority of Houdini users have only ever known COP2, me included

The further I can remember is 17.5, it might go as far as 4 or 5, no idea to be honest, I don't use COP, I use Davinci for all my compositing, my comment was in response to Kodra in reaction to my previous comment, which was a joke!!

After a bit of research, it appears that COP2 was introduced in 5.5 in 2002, at least according to this post! 😜🤣

COP2 was introduced around 2002 in Houdni 5.5 [www.sidefx.com]

I use COP all the time, but only for simple stuff. Great to have when there is a limited amount of Nuke licenses floating around.

This career opertuniy has been there for a while but I guess it means a cops overhaul is somewhere on the todo list: https://sidefx.bamboohr.com/careers/90 [sidefx.bamboohr.com]